Ohhhh ohhhhh ohhhhh! I made you a loaded salad. I mean really loaded. Magically so.
You guys know me well by now. If there’s a salad then there’s most likely kale in it… but then I went to Trader Joe’s (of course) and saw bag of organic spinach on the shelf. I mean, really let’s not forget about the first superfood that ever was. Before kale was this huge thing that people tried to make chips out of, spinach was the star. And so I decided to throw it back to 2008.
There’s something about summer that makes chopped salads everything you could possibly want. So many fruits and veggies in delicious little chunky bites waiting to be demolished. That’s how I think about salads anyway. Seriously can people please stop bringing those mayo-laden potato salads to potlucks, please? Most of the time I can’t even recognize if there are potatoes actually in the salad because I’m blinded by all that white weirdness.
Exaggerate much? Heh.
But for reals, this salad is packing the goodness. Like I’ve mentioned many times before, strawberries have been luring me in this year with their magical, ripe flavors; I can’t help but put them in nearly every meal I make. Mangos, too! Except I freaking hate cutting them. What a nightmare. Good news is that sometimes you can buy them pre-sliced from the grocery store, otherwise I found this amazing mango slicer off of Amazon which I plan to order immediately. Could change my life.
The other goodness in this salad? Ancient Harvest Quinoa. My favorite quinoa ever. And it’s organic so you know there’s none of that GMO stuff happening. By the way, did you know they make gluten free pasta and hot cereal? I’m super excited to give them a try soon.
Last, but certainly not least, there’s the dressing! And OH MY GOODNESS this dressing is lick-the-bowl good. Sesame oil has been one of my favorite oils lately because of how much flavor it gives food. And the best part is that a little goes a lonnngggggggggggg way. Combine it with honey, lime juice, vinegar and ginger make this salad both tangy and sweet.
I can’t wait for you to try this one. It make for an incredible side salad, on the go lunch or a full meal. And yes, you should totally bring it to the next potluck or BBQ you attend. Blow that potato salad off the table.
If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a photo and tag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram so I can see your creation.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Strawberry & Mango Chopped Spinach Quinoa Salad with Sesame-Lime Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup uncooked Ancient Harvest Quinoa
- For the vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (just from about 4 small limes)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons honey (agave nectar or maple syrup if vegan)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon ginger
- pinch of salt, to taste
- For the salad:
- 6 cups organic baby spinach (1 bag of baby spinach), finely diced
- 1/3 cup diced red onion
- 1 cup quartered ripe strawberries
- 1 ripe mango, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1/2 ripe avocado, diced
Instructions
- To cook quinoa: Rinse quinoa with cold water in mesh strainer. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 ½ cups of water to a boil. Add in quinoa and bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes or until quinoa has absorbed all of the water. Remove from heat and fluff quinoa with fork; place in large bowl and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes. You should have a little over 2 cups of quinoa.
- To make dressing: Add lime juice, honey, apple cider vinegar, ginger and a pinch of salt to a medium bowl. Whisk together until well combined, about 20-30 seconds. Set aside.
- Add chopped spinach, red onion, strawberries, mango, cilantro and avocado to the quinoa and gently mix with a wooden spoon to combine. Drizzle in dressing and stir again until all ingredients are well coated with the dressing. Serve immediately or cover and place in refrigerator for later serving. I recommend adding the avocado right before serving. Makes 4 servings, about 1 heaping cup each.
Nutrition
This post is sponsored by Ancient Harvest, a brand that I love working with. Thanks for continuing to support AK and the brands I work with!
Mango slicer! I NEED. The colors in this are amazing. That is all.
Right now I’m seeing something with blueberries — what do you think??
Gotta love this fresh produce this time of year! And the dressing? It sounds out-of-this-world delicious! Pinned!
okay, sweet and savoury? This is amazing! I had no idea what a ‘chopped’ salad actually was until I came here!
Oh man…the mango in this is calling my name!! Yum!
oh boy I love a fully loaded salad
YUM. Perfect salad!
This salad looks beautiful! I love all the flavours – perfect!
This looks so delicious, Monique! I love that you incorporated mangoes into the salad, one of my favorite fruits! And I can’t wait to try your vinaigrette recipe. I personally love vinaigrettes because they’re flavorful without having to be this heavy, cream-laden dressing that weighs down the salad. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe! 🙂
I love coming to your blog to look at all the pretty pictures!! What a great looking salad, but I have to admit, the dressing is the one thing standing out to me the most!
Some of my favorite salads have quinoa in them. I love the texture it adds. The mango in this sounds so great. I have been really into them lately.
You can tell how fresh, healthy and delicious this salad is just by looking at the images. Yum!
I always need to throw in berries or other fruit in my salads…and quinoa for added staying power – this looks like lunch tomorrow! yum!
What a coloful and delicious salad! I need to find a mango slicer 🙂
I love everything about this salad!!
That dressing sounds so good! I love quinoa salad and make it at least once a week. I bet the sweet fruit is an amazing way to switch it up.
This salad looks amazing! I love the addition of fruit. I need to get that mango slicer!
Made this last night and it was amazing! I didn’t have mango so I doubled the strawberry. I also added Feta cheese. I was even out of cilantro AND left out the oil by accident and it was still great!
Thanks so much for sharing the hummus recipe in your roundup. It’s so easy and would be perfect for the holiday weekend. I’m looking forward to checking out the other mango recipes shared here!
Is the sesame oil called for toasted or plain?
ooks so good. Thanks for sharing!!
Delicious salad!I have never made a salad with mango. So it’s new to me. But I have no mango slicer. I need to buy one! Thanks Monique for this new recipe!
FYI, just because something is organic doesn’t mean it’s not GMO.
perfect way to use up summer strawberries!
I made this for a work potluck and it was the hit of the day!! I got so many compliments I stopped counting 🙂 I did sub basil for the cilantro as there are some coworkers I know that don’t prefer it and used a whole chopped avocado, because I love avocado. I made the quinoa, chopped spinach and basil mix the night before as well as the dressing (but did not add dressing until next morning). The morning of I mixed everything together except the avocado. I did that right before serving and it was perfect! Thank you for a another great gluten free recipe.
Great convenient ideas to try.
Have not tried it yet but sounds like it would be very good
This was great! Thanks for sharing! I added chicken to mine. I love cilantro and lime, so I was glad they were included in the recipe. It was a great way to use up quinoa that I had in my cabinet.
Delicious! I love all of the ingredients. I made brown rice instead of quinoa (I had the rice in the pantry.) Otherwise, I followed the recipe as written.
Love it! Perfect lunch 🙂